The aroma of cooking filled the house: I sent my eldest brother to become the Grand Secretary.

"Have you all finished talking?" Seeing that the atmosphere between the three of them had relaxed, Wanyue walked up to them.

"Mmm." Shen Yu'an opened his jade-bone fan and fanned himself a few times in a pretentious manner.

"Now that we've finished talking, Sister Cao'er, didn't you ask me to remind you what kind of meat and egg burger to make today?"

"Is it too late for you to do it now?"

Shen Cao suddenly realized that she planned to make one or two street food dishes for them every day for the next few days, so that they could experience the charm of street food as much as possible before they left.

A few days ago, she didn't make any snacks because she really wanted to eat hot pot and shabu-shabu. These past few days, she's been thinking about other foods every day and keeps forgetting about this.

So she told Wanyue first thing this morning, wanting her to remind her in time.

"Oh! Right!" Shen Cao suddenly realized.

"I'll go and make the preparations right away."

"Then Wei Siyu and I will go to the study and write down some of the things we discussed today."

"Ah."

The group walked together towards the backyard.

Mr. and Mrs. Shen watched the group's retreating figures. They had been listening to their discussion, and it was the first time they had ever seen their daughter so serious.

It was also the first time I felt that these people genuinely wanted to do something well.

These young men are all outstanding individuals, willing to work with Cao'er, and they do not act superior because of their status.

His daughter, Cao'er, is very lucky to have met such a group of people.

Shen's father had just seen a group of people who could influence the entire Great Xia Kingdom in the future, just like the young general, no, the one who is now the great general.

He thought of his eldest son, who was now studying in the capital. He hadn't heard from him recently, and he wondered how he was doing.

He thought of his youngest son, who had always clamored to learn martial arts, but no one had agreed to be his teacher.

I don't know where he learned some moves, but not long after that person rejected him, his youngest son started practicing standing meditation and horse stance every morning.

In the backyard, a space was specially set aside for him according to his wishes, and several wooden stakes were bought.

Since then, he has been getting up early every day to do his morning exercises and running five laps around Xin'an County every day.

Even now that it's cold, he's still persisting.

He thought his youngest son would definitely be more successful than him in the future.

He became a cook because he was too lazy to practice martial arts.

He thought of his youngest daughter, who, although she had not yet found what she truly wanted to do, was studying very hard.

So that I can be like my older sister in the future, or at least become her right-hand woman.

He is so lucky to have such a group of sensible children.

All he and his wife could do was work hard to earn money and be their strongest support.

He patted his wife's hand and said, "We must be good to each other from now on."

Shen's mother glanced at him and immediately understood what he meant. She squeezed his hand and said, "We will definitely be alright."

Shen Cao had just finished preparing the ingredients for the meat and egg burger and was about to go and clean the special pot that the blacksmith had made some time ago.

Then Wei Siyu rushed in anxiously, "Cao'er, something happened at the dock?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Cao hurriedly put down the pot and followed him to the study.

As soon as he entered the study, he anxiously asked, "Brother Shen, what happened at the dock?"

Shen Yu'an frowned and said angrily, "It was the Tiger Head Gang who did it."

"Tiger Head Gang?" This was the first time Shen Cao had heard of this name. Just hearing it made him feel that they were not respectable people.

"It's the person you mentioned before, the one who collects protection money from the vendors at the docks."

“They go there every two weeks. And I heard that the group of people has been there ever since the dock was built and there were vendors around.”

It turned out that the group of people she had seen earlier collecting protection money from the vendors were from the Tiger Head Gang.

No wonder she didn't encounter those people when she went to the docks to do business before; she probably just missed them.

She's quite lucky.

Shen Yu'an continued, "I asked someone to inquire about it some time ago, and I heard that the Tiger Head Gang recently got a new young leader."

"Although this gang leader is young, his methods are more ruthless than anyone else's."

"He only became the new gang leader after he personally killed the old gang leader."

"In order to gain the support of the people, they also killed many of the Tiger Head Gang's elders."

"I had heard that after he took office, he reduced protection fees by 30%."

"The reason they took action against our people this time must be because they knew what we were going to do."

“Once we standardize the management of the docks, they will no longer be able to collect protection money.”

"So they will stop us no matter what."

Shen Yu'an frowned. He had even sent a formal invitation to the Tiger Head Gang, but it was torn to shreds on the spot.

Shen Cao had considered that this group of people might be organized, but she never expected that they would actually form a gang.

Moreover, judging from Shen Yu'an's words, the Tiger Head Gang is quite powerful, which explains why they dare to openly collect protection money at the dock in broad daylight.

No wonder the county magistrate said the dock was difficult to manage.

"Let's go talk to the leader of the Tiger Head Gang. How dare they do this in broad daylight? Is there no law anymore?" Wei Siyu was furious. He never expected that some people would be so unafraid of even the law enforcement officers.

"It's no use. I sent a visiting card before, and it was torn up."

"Moreover, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. The fact that the Tiger Head Gang can exist in Xin'an County means that their leader is capable."

"What should we do? Is there really no way?" Wei Siyu asked anxiously. They knew that there were only two months left until the Chinese New Year, and they had to get back before then.

The journey alone will take more than half a month, which means they have another month and a half to finish dealing with the remaining matters.

Shen Yu'an didn't reply; he kept tapping the table with his jade-bone fan.

After a long pause, as if suddenly remembering something, he said, "I remember Xin'an County is not far from the border."

"What if we could bring a small troop of soldiers from the border and suppress them by force?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Siyu felt it was a good idea. "I remember that Wanyue and the young general's sister from the Ji family have a good relationship."

"If she speaks up, given her status, General Ji should send someone over, right?"

Shen Yu'an thought about it carefully and then felt that this method was not feasible.

"The military shouldn't be allowed to leave the barracks without permission, especially since we're here for personal matters."

The two shook their heads; this method was indeed not feasible.

Shen Cao suddenly spoke up, "Brother Shen, you just said that this gang leader only recently took office, and that he reduced the protection fees by 30% after taking office?"

"That's right!"

Upon hearing Shen Yu'an's affirmative answer, Shen Cao's eyes lit up, and she exclaimed happily, "I have a solution!"